THE SCOOP: THURSDAY, AUGUST 19

Schwartz: Roof over Ashe Stadium could cost $90 million
Armstrong, grandstand still possibilities

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

A troop of workers dry courts at the rain-soaked '04 U.S. Open.

This dispatch comes from TR.net friend Tom Tebbutt of the Toronto Glove and Mail:

Rain is the scourge of tournaments, especially if they are on grass courts as at Wimbledon or hard courts at the US Open. Rain is usually associated with Wimbledon, but the worst run of recent weather-related havoc was at last year's US Open when just four matches were completed between Monday and Wednesday of the second week.

The USTA received some criticism about its method of drying the courts – mostly blowers and people with towels and squeegees – during the almost three complete days lost. This year the USTA will introduce a Zamboni-like machine (about 40 per cent of its size), which will be used to suck up the water on Ashe and Armstrong during the Open, which begins August 30.

"Last year, one of the things was that the water wasn't all from the top," USTA president Alan Schwartz said. "We have a very high water table (in Flushing Meadows) and it got even higher and that caused problems on all but (23,000-seat) Arthur Ashe Stadium. Our problem on (10,000-seat) Louis Armstrong Stadium and the (6,000-seat) grandstand were underneath – coming up. From a personal perspective, I thought it was kind of dramatic in our hi-tech days to see 100 guys so down with towels – but evidently it didn't play as well with some of the spectators.

With the new machine, the courts are expected to be dry in around 11 minutes.

ASHE MAY STAY TOPLESS
The ultimate solution, a roof over the stadium, may not be a viable solution at the USTA NationalTennis Center.

"We're investigating a roof," said Schwartz, "but I'm not very encouraged personally because the best numbers you can get for Ashe – without even taking care of all the air-conditioning inside – are about $60 million. By the time you're done with the air handling, you may be $80 or $90 million. The interest on that loan, even at five per cent, is $4.5 million a year. Add to that the fact that it's good for about 20 years and amortize $90 million over 20 years and it's another $4.5 million. That's $9 million a year and that doesn't make a lot of sense for a one-in-20-year rain."

Those are the odds the USTA has put on a reoccurrence of last year's persistent precipitation.
Schwartz added that there is probably more chance for putting either a roof on Armstrong Stadium alone or one over both Armstrong and the Grandstand. "What might make some sense, and we're looking at it, is putting a roof over Armstrong, and maybe the grandstand together," he said. "That would be a total of 15, or 16,000 people. If we did Armstrong, that would be about 10,000."

WOMEN'S WILD CARDS AWARDED
The USTA announced that Ashley Harkleroad Angela Haynes, Jamea Jackson, 18s Super Nationals champ Jessica Kirkland, NCAA champ Amber Liu, Bethanie Mattek, Kelly McCain and Alexandra Stevenson have been awarded main draw women's singles wild card entries into the Open. Six of the eight recipients are 20 years or younger. McCain is 21 and ranked No. 135. Stevenson, 23, has been hampered by tendonitis in her right shoulder much of the season and has only played in the main draw in six events this season.

WTA Tour

Alexandra Stevenson

Lilia Osterloh

If I were making the call, I would have chosen Ohio's Lilia Osterloh over both. She has a higher ranking than either (134), and has played her heart out trying to get back into the Top 100. While she's 25, she qualified this summer for the French, Stanford, LA, San Diego and Montreal. She's plays Lindsay Davenport in Cincy today. Another former Stanford standout, Teryn Ashley, is on the bubble, ranked No. 107.

Davenport made the unusual move of taking a wild card into Cincy. While she's taking a big risk with her knee playing four weeks straight (Cincy, New Haven and the Open), she said yesterday that she doesn't want to stop the momentum she built in winning the California Triple.

In addition, the USTA awarded qualifying wild cards to Sarah Fansler (16-years-old), Alexa Glatch (14), Vania King (15), Alexandra Mueller (16), Jessica Nguyen (16), Jewel Peterson (22), Andrea Remynse (15), Neha Uberoi (18) and Shikha Uberoi (21).

The USTA also announced the '04 inductees into the US Open Court of Champions, honoring the greatest singles champions in the 123-year history of the Open. The inductees, representing the Open Era (1968 to present), and the Golden Era of the U.S. Championships (1881 to 1967) are Steffi Graf, John McEnroe, Jack Kramer and Margaret Court.

Court won 18 US titles, placing her second all-time behind Margaret Osborne duPont's 25 titles. Graf won five women's singles titles ('88, '89, '93, '95, '96) and posted three runner-up showings.

Kramer won the first two singles titles in the post-war era: 1946 and 1947. He also tallied titles in men's doubles ('40, '41, '43 and '47) and mixed doubles ('41). McEnroe took four men's singles titles ('79-'81, 1984) as well as four men's doubles titles ('79, '81, '83, '89).

USOpen.org relaunched on Wednesday and will feature a graphic-driven redesign with three daily broadband shows, a new desktop scoreboard and expanded editorial and statistical coverage. The site generated a record 15.2 million visits last year.

TR.net's Matthew Cronin will again be writing for the site and doing analysis on US Open radio of the first night matches and second week marquee matches. Hopefully, as many of you who listened to Cronin from Roland Garros will turn off the sound on your TV sets and listen to him bungle rally descriptions in NY. TR.net will also be reporting daily from Flushing Meadows.